Editor’s Note: This article is part a CE Pro series examining the forces that shaped the custom-integration channel in 2025. Throughout December, CE Pro will share perspectives from respected industry voices to help integrators close out the year with a clearer view of where the market is heading.
As the smart home and residential technology sectors look back on 2025, it’s clear the industry experienced both meaningful growth and significant change. To help make sense of the trends, challenges and opportunities that defined the past year, CE Pro spoke with Scott Geltz of Audio Video Outfitters. His reflections offer context on how shifting technologies, evolving customer expectations and changing business conditions are influencing today’s residential integrators.
CE Pro: How did homeowner expectations or project demands shift in 2025?
Scott Geltz: In 2025, homeowners moved decisively from wanting “smart devices” to wanting intelligent, wellness-driven living environments. Clients ask for better lighting, healthier routines, stress reduction, and seamless interaction with technology rather than more gadgets.
We also saw a major rise in expectations around infrastructure and reliability. Networks, lighting control wiring, clean power, shading, and acoustics are now treated as essential building systems. In design-forward luxury homes throughout Bluffton and Hilton Head, clients want high performance while keeping the technology visually discreet and intuitive to use.
CE Pro: Which categories surprised you in terms of growth or slowdown this year?
Geltz: For growth we saw that once clients experience premium lighting firsthand, adoption for human-centric and tunable lighting increases dramatically.
Screened porches, pools and patios also drove significant growth—outdoor AV has become a lifestyle standard in the Lowcountry.
More homeowners prioritized UPS systems, surge protection and clean power infrastructures as well, making them foundational components of their homes.
As for slowdowns, we saw demand shift away from dedicated theaters toward multi-purpose luxury media spaces that support both entertainment and everyday living.
Voice control as a primary interface waned as well. It’s still useful, but clients now lean toward more intuitive automation and AI-driven control layers beyond voice alone.
CE Pro: What major product launches or acquisitions had the biggest impact in 2025?
Geltz: AI-enhanced platforms across lighting, networking, and control systems made a noticeable impact, reducing programming time and increasing personalization.
Next-generation LED video walls also reached new performance and design thresholds, making them more suitable for luxury residential settings.
Security-sector consolidation created more unified monitoring ecosystems, allowing for simpler user experiences and more efficient integrator support.
CE Pro: How did AI adoption or workflow automation evolve across the channel?
Geltz: AI became a practical, everyday tool in 2025. At our company, we now use AI to help with proposal generation and scope clarification, engineering documentation and diagrams, predictive system monitoring, troubleshooting and remote diagnostic and scheduling and inventory forecasting.
In the home, AI improved lighting behaviors, energy management, and automated routines, making smart homes genuinely feel smarter and more responsive.
CE Pro: What trend or technology failed to gain traction despite early interest?
Geltz: Standalone wellness dashboards and single-purpose “wellness gadgets” saw early enthusiasm but ultimately fell short. Homeowners prefer integrated wellness, where lighting, air quality, shading, and automation work together instead of living in separate ecosystems.
Consumer-grade hybrid ecosystems like Matter also lost momentum. Although promising, they still lack the reliability, integration depth, and performance expected in professionally designed luxury residences.
CE Pro: How did collaboration with builders, designers, or architects change this year?
Geltz: In 2025, collaboration moved much earlier in the process. Builders, designers, and architects now bring us in during the conceptual design phase to plan lighting, shading, acoustics, and technology infrastructure.
Our experience center accelerated this trend. Project partners regularly bring clients in for hands-on demonstrations, helping them visualize solutions and make faster, more confident decisions.
CE Pro: What lessons from 2025 should the industry carry into 2026?
Geltz: As an industry, we should be focusing on outcomes, not hardware. Clients want improvements to daily living—comfort, health, reliability—not a collection of devices.
We should also keep in mind that infrastructure determines satisfaction. Clean power, networks, and proper wiring are now the backbone of every successful system.
AI elevates both operations and client experience, as well. Integrators who adopt AI for workflow, diagnostics, and personalization will deliver more consistent results.
Service must be proactive. Remote monitoring, fast response, and long-term support need to be built into every project.
And early collaboration creates better homes. The closer the partnership with architects, designers, and builders, the better the outcomes for clients and integrators alike.
